charter dog
Rabid member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2006
- Posts
- 179
Cody_V:
Laying out that kind of coin without some assurance of earning it all back in a reasonable period of time is a pretty big risk. Somebody in another post suggested making some arrangement with an operator prior to committing to training. That is good advice worth considering.
Here's why:
1) Corporate flight departments, as a general rule, don't hire day rate pilots who are not well known to them to crew their long-range international trips for the reasons stated in some of the above posts. If they did, those pilots would typically be highly experienced corporate pilots with impeccable references. That's just the way they have traditionally operated. They would rather pay to train one of their own domestic pilots than to fly with an unknown quantity. But then ya never know, right place, right time...
2) Corporate ops have an entirely different focus than other types of pilot jobs. Pilots flying large corporate jets typically have many years of corporate experience before getting a shot at these positions. Most of them flew smaller jets in corporate and/or charter for many years. Proven apptitude and attitude for this kind of work. I guess there are always exceptions...
I really don't mean to be harsh, but the realities of this business sometimes are. Because it's all about personalities. Qualifications are just a screening tool. Attitudes and contacts determine who gets hired.
So, some possibilities you might consider instead:
1) There are probably plenty of charter companies willing to give a guy who will pay for his own training a shot at co-pilot to fill a seat in their G or equivalent. I know of a couple, but nobody stays very long. Costs them nothing and if you turn out to be a liability, or the captains don't like your attitude, you're gone and it cost them nothing. Better that the captains of the company's smaller jets don't find out about your "arrangement". Also keep in mind that you must go to training on an operator's certificate in order to receive 135 training certification as part of your type training. This usually means competing all the indoc, drug, background and company specific signoffs prior to issuance of your training authorization. YMMV.
2) Find a charter company that is willing to make an agreement with you to hire you and split the initial training costs with you under the agreement (in writing) that they will re-imburse your investment on a pro-rata basis over your first year of service. This may be attractive to them because it reduces their initial cash outlay and any financial risk is shared by both parties.
3) Start over. See what kind of job you can get hired into purely on your merits. This route will generally mean a smaller, less glamorous jet than the Global or G-V and the lower pay and prestige that goes with it. But there is no cash outlay and all the money they pay you is yours. After a year or two, you may be able to upgrade to a bigger jet or captain the smaller one. Depends how much they like you and your job performance. If not, then maybe that will be a better time to buy a seat. At least then, you have some recent charter experience to stand on. Try for the Challenger 601 or 604.
So whatever you do, don't lay out a bunch of cash (especially borrowed) without some pretty solid assurance that you will receive a profitable return on the investment.
Best,
PS If this is just flamebait, I'll cut you out of my will!
Laying out that kind of coin without some assurance of earning it all back in a reasonable period of time is a pretty big risk. Somebody in another post suggested making some arrangement with an operator prior to committing to training. That is good advice worth considering.
Here's why:
1) Corporate flight departments, as a general rule, don't hire day rate pilots who are not well known to them to crew their long-range international trips for the reasons stated in some of the above posts. If they did, those pilots would typically be highly experienced corporate pilots with impeccable references. That's just the way they have traditionally operated. They would rather pay to train one of their own domestic pilots than to fly with an unknown quantity. But then ya never know, right place, right time...
2) Corporate ops have an entirely different focus than other types of pilot jobs. Pilots flying large corporate jets typically have many years of corporate experience before getting a shot at these positions. Most of them flew smaller jets in corporate and/or charter for many years. Proven apptitude and attitude for this kind of work. I guess there are always exceptions...
I really don't mean to be harsh, but the realities of this business sometimes are. Because it's all about personalities. Qualifications are just a screening tool. Attitudes and contacts determine who gets hired.
So, some possibilities you might consider instead:
1) There are probably plenty of charter companies willing to give a guy who will pay for his own training a shot at co-pilot to fill a seat in their G or equivalent. I know of a couple, but nobody stays very long. Costs them nothing and if you turn out to be a liability, or the captains don't like your attitude, you're gone and it cost them nothing. Better that the captains of the company's smaller jets don't find out about your "arrangement". Also keep in mind that you must go to training on an operator's certificate in order to receive 135 training certification as part of your type training. This usually means competing all the indoc, drug, background and company specific signoffs prior to issuance of your training authorization. YMMV.
2) Find a charter company that is willing to make an agreement with you to hire you and split the initial training costs with you under the agreement (in writing) that they will re-imburse your investment on a pro-rata basis over your first year of service. This may be attractive to them because it reduces their initial cash outlay and any financial risk is shared by both parties.
3) Start over. See what kind of job you can get hired into purely on your merits. This route will generally mean a smaller, less glamorous jet than the Global or G-V and the lower pay and prestige that goes with it. But there is no cash outlay and all the money they pay you is yours. After a year or two, you may be able to upgrade to a bigger jet or captain the smaller one. Depends how much they like you and your job performance. If not, then maybe that will be a better time to buy a seat. At least then, you have some recent charter experience to stand on. Try for the Challenger 601 or 604.
So whatever you do, don't lay out a bunch of cash (especially borrowed) without some pretty solid assurance that you will receive a profitable return on the investment.
Best,
PS If this is just flamebait, I'll cut you out of my will!
Last edited:
TC
